How do you spell S-L-O-W?

[f00man]

When the U.S. auto journalists tested the Mach 1, Motor Trend quoted 0-60 mph of 4.2 seconds for the car with the HP and A10. Car and Driver got 4.3 seconds for a Tremec and HP car. I know the journalists use rollout. I measured my A10, non-HP, ECU tuned, Kooks headers car yesterday in S and Sport+ and got 4.8 seconds. To say that I was disappointed, would be quite the understatement. Maybe I should try Drag Mode. I know I give up traction via the PS4S vs Cup 2's, but I would have thought a tune and headers would make up for some of it. I drove home with my tail between my legs.

Look at the bright side, if it were A Dark Horse the disappointment would be x10.

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[rocsteady]

Not sure if it was mentioned yet but these magazine guys are also not beating the crap out of their own cars, which makes a big difference. I have no urge to do a clutch dump in the car I drive everyday, but if someone was paying me to get ultimate numbers in someone else’s car? I’m quite sure my numbers would be better in the car I don’t have to worry about paying to fix.

 

[308 Cal. Bullitt]

The numbers you are looking for are irrelevant. Yes, pple want to measure themselves against a known quantity. I get it. Instead, strive to make improvements on what your own baseline 0-60 is, or whatever your metric is. Thats how professional racers approach things every day. Making what they have, become more competitive.

Your local surfaces (a track hopefully, & not public highway) are what is relevant for you, as is your local weather conditions- if it rains every day in your location, become the best accelerating car on damp surfaces. Or move to another country.

(Newer concrete is almost always better than old....
vs-
older, smooth/worn/slick - asphalt )

Choose your launchpad wisely. Or become the king of dirt/gravel roads. Your choice.

If it cool outside (say <65°F), you want to make your hits when the sun is shining or recently been shining on your surface. A cold surface can be more difficult to drive on.

Buy/borrow an infared temp gun similar to these examples below.
Have a friend (now called your 'crew chief') operate the temp gun while your driving the car.

Your crew chief is going to measure both the tire surface & the track surface just behind it, (labeled #1 & #2 locations in pic)
after you have done the tire warming procedure (aka-burnout).
After you have stopped & are located in the spot your preparing to launch from, measure Temps. This can be in the area you did the burn out in, if you choose to bk up into your own tire tracks. You can use temp gun to see if your tires (on burnout) are actually changing the track surface in a measurable way, & for a measurable distance of surface, if your curious.

2 locations are marked below, & the crew chief will shoot the 2 spots very shortly before you launch the car. They are marked as 'o'

He points the laser guide & shoots temps, & remembers ea till he can record. (American drag racers work in F° Fahrenheit #'s, so any examples below, may require you to convert.

We are always being mindful of different tire brands/compounds, to develop the best range of temp disparity (Delta) between tire
(#1) &
track surface (#2).

This disparity in temps between #1 & #2,
are what's most often the "magic number" for a tire. Could be +5°, +10°, +20°, or more.
I don't recall a tire wanting to being colder than the track surface in racing, unless its a unique, & very hot day - situation. Usually the tire likes to be at least equal to the track temp, but often higher.
You will likely never develop an exact temp difference in a window of under 3°/°5 degrees F, between tire/track for most occasions. More like a range withina few degrees.

Start at getting your Tire surface at a difference (of both measured surfaces) between +05°F & +10°F hotter than the track surface.
Unless the track surface is a frying pan, due to extreme heat, like from Noon to 4pm, on hot sunny days in the USA. Should start at equal °F temps, & work upward.

If your finding success, than try going up in tire temp disparity, & work on your launch rpm range as well. Tire pressure is a topic for another day, & very important.

There are other conditions you should record as well, like ambient air temp, relative humidity, density altitude, & create a lingo for how to rate the surfaces your testing on.

Always note if its concrete or asphalt.

A 1 thru 5 rating system, can be helpful, where your Cobble stone is a -2. A prepped surface of drag strip concrete is a 5 on a 5 scale. The surface makes a significant difference.

You will never know how long to hold your car in the burnout heating phase, w/o developing a temperature measuring regiment like we outlined, & responding to the successes and failures accordingly.

If you have a clutch style posi, & not a torsten, or full spool, then you need to be sure to do the right side tire
(if memory still serves me... as we ourselves only use full spools, which always give you a perfect 50/50 tire load bias).

You want to try to use the same side tire, unless have a fully locked diff, but its not the end of the world if you cannot. During all this, safety is paramount. Repeatability starts with doing everything the same, every time is as well.
Recording to much data is better than not enough. Make notes of how many burnouts you have on the tires. We measure it in # of passes on a set of drag race tires, as ea pass has 1 burnout.

If you decide to back up into the burnout tracks for the launch, thats fine. Note it.
Just make sure the track temp is recorded as close to the launch spot as possible & just behind the tire. Not 5 or 10 feet behind or infront of the rear tire, at launcg.

Look in your rearview or side mirror for a signal from the crew chief, that he has the temp measuring done, & you are ready to launch. Or maybe he does the temps, & they are NOT high enough yet, & signals you to do it again & put more heat in the tires, for the test range you both agreed upon. This can look unprofessional at an organized track event, & should only be done in testing situations that done disturb others race programs.

We left some things out, but you can always ask if your curious. The topic of launching a car covers a lot of ground. Best if broken apart.
Find the best surfaces you can that offers the most safety. Safety is more important than the best road surfaces, that will cause an accident. The race track is the only proper place to test like this, but a vacant or abandoned road can be ok at times.
Have regard for others safety as well, & dont back over your crew chief, as he will largely be behind you.

Theres more we can cover, but everyone b*tches bout long posts as unreadable, so unless you ASK for more insight, tips, ect, we wont waste everyone's time.

Have fun getting better at launching.

 

[K4fxd]

Theres more we can cover, but everyone b*tches bout long posts as unreadable

As long as one uses punctuation, paragraphs and is to the point, like you did, it is very readable

 

[Andy13186]

The on-board 0-60 meter isnt very accurate.

 

[Zrussian13]

My best NA was 4.7 I think. Best boosted is 4 flat but all runs were done on the street with minimal traction, mp4s tires and mt82 . I can regularly hang with cars that have 3 second 0-60 times on paper though so a preped track or even some good concrete instead of asphalt would make a big difference.

If you want a good time the tires will need to be hot so doing a few runs in a row will definitely get your number down. Everyone seems so worried about abusing there car but ford built these things strong. Ive beat mine like a red headed step child every day for the last 5 years. The only negative thing that has come from it is lots of dash rattles!

 

[Shop Grunt]

Why not go to a drag strip with the correct MT ET street tires or drag radials?
0-60 & 1/4 mile times should be dismal with a 3800lb car though & insurance probably doesn't cover racing.

 

[308 Cal. Bullitt]

Why not go to a drag strip with the correct MT ET street tires or drag radials?
0-60 & 1/4 mile times should be dismal with a 3800lb car though & insurance probably doesn't cover racing.

Everyone has there thing I suppose. We ourselves are lucky enough to have more than one trash barge.... besides our '22 Shelby, to mess w/.

We have a drag radial tire veh w/a 500" plus inch poweplant, & custom 4130 chassis, we built bk circa ~'09. Its just a daily grocery getter.

 

[murick]

Let's be clear, I have zero performance driving skills. A week ago the Mrs passed me in our Ford Focus. #pathetic

Well, then let the Mrs drive the 0-60

 

[Lunchabull]

I live in upstate NY last summer i managed to get a 3.77 (3.47) with the rollout on a pretty shitty backroad. It takes some practice to get used to but is definately doable. I consistently get sub 4s easy now. I do have Mickey Thompson Street S/S on the rear though 305/35/19.

 

[ShadesOfBloo]

Let's be clear, I have zero performance driving skills. A week ago the Mrs passed me in our Ford Focus. #pathetic

Did you try shifting down a couple of gears? I remember that transmission being fairly obtuse, and always being in too high a gear unless I clicked a paddle and overrode it.
(And the A10 Mustang rental is the reason I bought an M6.)

Unfortunately, E85 is not readily available here. I wish.

No, you probably don't. I know fuel is more expensive on your side of the pond. E85 might cost less by the liter, but you would use more liters and actually have higher operating costs.

Ethanol has half the chemical energy of gasoline (or petrol ) so a liter of E85 gives you 42.5% less range than a liter of petroleum fuel. Does it cost 42.5% less? It doesn't, in the USA.

I had a bit of spin, but obviously the traction control in Sport+ kicked in. I just feel so stupid.

...So you're limited by traction, not power.

it was 63 F, dry road surface, smooth. I was at about 300 feet above sea level.

Yeah, but dry cobblestones are still terrible.

 

[Mgsouthwest2001]

How do i spell slow? Well i guess it depends on how old you are. My first 5.0 was a new fox body back when they were new cars. 0-60 on those stock was somewhere in the 6’s and that was considered flying. So to me 4.8 sec is anything but slow.

 

[2021 Mach 1]

Did you try shifting down a couple of gears? I remember that transmission being fairly obtuse, and always being in too high a gear unless I clicked a paddle and overrode it.
(And the A10 Mustang rental is the reason I bought an M6.)


No, you probably don't. I know fuel is more expensive on your side of the pond. E85 might cost less by the liter, but you would use more liters and actually have higher operating costs.

Ethanol has half the chemical energy of gasoline (or petrol ) so a liter of E85 gives you 42.5% less range than a liter of petroleum fuel. Does it cost 42.5% less? It doesn't, in the USA.


...So you're limited by traction, not power.


Yeah, but dry cobblestones are still terrible.

I just put it in S and Sport+ and stepped on in it in auto mode.

 

[308 Cal. Bullitt]

As long as one uses punctuation, paragraphs and is to the point, like you did, it is very readable

Won't be gettin free writing classes from us anytime soon.
we know we are terrible.

"If you want to be strong, you start by recognizing your weaknesses"
:Eastwood maybe:

 

[K4fxd]

Won't be gettin free writing classes from us anytime soon.

Maybe you misunderstood. You did great!

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